EasyBuild Installation

EasyBuild (EB) is a software build and installation framework that allows you to manage (scientific) software on High Performance Computing (HPC) systems in an efficient way.

Important Notes:

• Before installing the Software, check whether it has already been installed

  • module spider <software-name>

• If the software version is not sufficient, check with HPC support team first before installing the Software

• If you want the Software available to your group, change to the appropriate group before installation. You can also use --umask=<values> flag when installing the software

  • newgrp <group>

Load EasyBuild module

module load EasyBuild

Shows default paths being used during installation

eb --show-config

output:

• buildpath      (D) = ~/.local/easybuild/build                  # where Software is compiled

• containerpath  (D) = ~/.local/easybuild/containers

• installpath    (D) = ~/.local/easybuild                        # default path for software installation (install path)

• repositorypath (D) = ~/.local/easybuild/ebfiles_repo

• robot-paths    (D) = /usr/local/easybuild_allnodes/software/EasyBuild/4.9.4/easybuild/easyconfigs # tells easybuild to resolve dependencies.

• sourcepath     (D) = ~/.local/easybuild/sources

You may want to change the install path other than your home directory (e.g. /mnt/vstor/courses/<course>/<caseID>) to avoid quota violation with accumulated Software.

export EASYBUILD_PREFIX=<install-path>

You can also use --prefix=<install-path> during installation. Check the installpath after using EASYBUILD_PREFIX. Use "--show-full-config" flag for detailed configuration

eb --show-config

Check the software available in EB repository

eb --search '^<software>'           # Example: eb --search '^Julia'

output:

/usr/local/easybuild_allnodes/software/EasyBuild/4.9.4/easybuild/easyconfigs/j/Julia/Julia-1.10.4-linux-x86_64.eb

Check the Software dependencies (using Julia as an example)

eb -M /usr/local/easybuild_allnodes/software/EasyBuild/4.9.4/easybuild/easyconfigs/j/Julia/Julia-1.10.4-linux-x86_64.eb

output:

• 1 out of 1 required modules missing:   # Julia itself is missing

  • * Julia/1.10.4-linux-x86_64 (Julia-1.10.4-linux-x86_64.eb)

Install Software.  It is using 4 cores with --parallel=4 flag. You need to request the cores using compute nodes if you are using this --parallel flag. The –robot flag is for resolving dependencies. Multiple robo paths can be assigned using --robot=$PWD:$HOME or $EASYBUILD_ROBOT_PATHS

eb --parallel=4 --robot /usr/local/easybuild_allnodes/software/EasyBuild/4.9.4/easybuild/easyconfigs/j/Julia/Julia-1.10.4-linux-x86_64.eb

output:

== COMPLETED: Installation ended successfully (took 59 secs) 

Enable/Prepend the new module tree

module use <install-path>/eb/modules/all           # Prepend or Append path to MODULEPATH 

Load the module

module load <software>